The UK Technology Secretary will set out plans to turn areas of industrial wasteland into “hotbeds” for AI development in a pitch to American investors during a visit to the US.
Speaking at a business summit in San Jose, Peter Kyle will detail how “relics of economic eras past” will be transformed into so-called “growth zones” dedicated to attracting investment through advances in computing.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has set out an AI “action plan” to drastically expand use of the technology with the aim of helping to revolutionise creaking public services and turn around Britain’s economy.
The measures include development of a series of “growth zones” around the country to build infrastructure such as data centres and improve access to the energy grid.
The Government wants these to be located in areas with existing power connections or a clear path to securing them and deindustrialised regions with land and infrastructure suitable for redevelopment.
Mr Kyle is expected to offer further detail about the sites as he addresses business chiefs and developers at the Nvidia annual conference on Thursday.
“In empty factories and abandoned mines, in derelict sites and unused power supplies, I see the places where we can begin to build a new economic model,” the minister will say.
“A model completely rewired around the immense power of artificial intelligence.
“Where, faced with that power, the state is neither a blocker nor a shirker – but an agile, proactive partner.”
The Technology Secretary is expected to say that states “owe it to their citizens to support” AI initiatives, “not through diktat or directive, but through partnership”.
The UK’s AI sector is valued at 92 billion dollars (£71 billion) and projected to surpass one trillion dollars by 2035, according to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
As part of the visit, Mr Kyle will also meet representatives from tech companies including Open AI, Anthropic, Nvidia and Vantage, the DSIT said.
